JACKSON, Tenn. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team suffered a 72-57 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) road loss to the Lane College Lady Dragons on Monday evening in J.F. Lane Gymnasium.
The Lady Dragons (5-12, 4-6 SIAC West) jumped out to an 11-2 lead five minutes into the contest and closed the first quarter with a 19-10 advantage. Spring Hill managed to cut the deficit to 24-19 off a layup by junior guard
Kate Hammond of Arab, Ala. with 2:39 remaining in the half, but Lane would carry a 32-24 bulge into halftime.
In the third quarter, the teams scored 19 points apiece as Lane kept SHC at a 6- to 8-point deficit most of the way, maintaining a 51-43 cushion with 10 minutes to play. Badger shooting guard
Elise Reilly of Covington, La. drained a 3-pointer with 8:04 on the clock to slice it down to a 52-48 Lane lead, but the home team was still clinging to a 55-48 advantage at the final media timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, SHC shooting went cold and Lane could not miss, resulting in 66-52 Lane margin at the 2:14 mark.
Reilly led the way for the Badgers with 18 points while senior forward
Tiffany Valentine of Houston, Texas added 11 points and junior forward
Katie Krout of Tuscaloosa, Ala., had 10 points with 8 rebounds.
As a team, the Badgers shot 44.4% (20-45) from the floor and 30% (3-10) from beyond 3-point distance. SHC continued to struggle with turnovers by fumbling away the ball 21 times against 11 steals by the Dragons defense as Lane outscored Spring Hill 21-15 in points off turnovers. The Badgers knocked down 58.3% (14-24) of their free throws and controlled the boards by a slim 33-31 margin, but still took a 7-2 loss on second chance scoring.
Guard Briana Thompson paced the Dragons with 26 points as Lane shot 41.1% (23-56) from the field and 42.9% (6-14) from 3-point range. Lane completed 76.9% (20-26) of its free throws and lost 14 turnovers to four Badger steals.
The Badgers (6-13, 5-5 SIAC West) will host the Kentucky State University Thorobrettes (5-11, 2-7 SIAC West) at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
